societyCreating
alternativesThe
youth of today cannot be exonerated of all responsibility for the
direction in which society is headingBy Aasim Sajjad AkhtarIn the relative scheme of things 20 years is not a long time. This is
exactly how long it has been since the Cold War ended, and with it, the
so-called age of ideology. The rapidly growing population of young people
that has grown up over these two decades has very little understanding of
what the Cold War represented, beyond caricatures of communism and the
fact that its precepts are inconsistent with 'human nature'.

Bumpy
road to rehabilitationThe
major challenge in rehabilitation process would be resource mobilisationBy Naseer MemonFloods have now receded, leaving a trail of devastation behind. Deep
scars of this disaster would take years to heal. Although relief phase is
yet to end but concomitant to that more arduous phases of early recovery
and rehabilitation can't afford any delay. The camp life ordeal of
affectees would soon get over yet their suffering would only change its
form as they return to their uprooted abodes.

firstpersonLost in researchThe quest for peace was a
major imperative for meBy Dr Tariq RahmanDr Inayatullah has spent the best part of his life doing research on
subjects related to social sciences. During the course of his decades-long
academic incursions into research, Inayatullah had the chance of working
with the UN and other academic institutions around the world. After
successfully launching his own Council of Social Sciences in 1994, the
researcher in Inayatullah is still eager to do more work and explore new
avenues in the field of research in social sciences.

Politically
proneMQM
does represent a unique composition and trends in the political process of
the countryBy Dr. Syed Farooq Hasnat and
Shehzadi Zamurrad AwanWithin a span of few years Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), under the
leadership of its founder Altaf Hussain became a potent force in the
political dynamics of Pakistan. Although, it lacks the ability to form a
government on its own, either in the Sindh province or in the Center, a
sizable number of its members in both the legislative bodies makes it a
tricky "king maker".

militancyDeath of sanityThe task before us is to take forward Dr Khan's mission
of preaching tolerance
By T AliDr Muhammad Farooq Khan's death has shocked the country, a huge loss
for Pakistani society in that he was a source of guidance and a voice
against militancy in the country. With his death, the society has lost a
passionate campaigner for tolerance and moderation.

The
question is…Does a
woman have a right to have rights?By Fauzia ViqarTake for instance women's right to inheritance and property. The
general perception regarding inheritance and property rights is that a
woman does not deserve these because she has either used up those
entitlements in the jahez and elaborate marriage celebrations for her, or
that she gets them through her husband so why give her more. The law is
clear on distribution of property and other inheritance in set proportions
to heirs. The daughters get half the share of what the sons get and
surviving wife/wives have fixed portions. In Pakistan, due to customary
practices of mothers being taken care of by sons, mothers do not lay claim
on inheritance from their husbands. Societal practices also make it
extremely difficult for women to survive independent of male support and
force a widow to depend on her son, thereby relinquishing her claim to
property and other spousal inheritance

Thriving
on public moneyIt is possible to get back
looted funds if the government seeks information regarding accounts in
Switzerland
By Huzaima Bukhari and Dr. Ikramul HaqThe fact that the unscrupulous, with the connivance of powerful, are
unabatedly plundering the money of small deposit-holders is both shocking
and painful. The deposit holders get negligible returns on their savings,
while the banks are earning mark-up between 12 to 18 percent from
borrowers -- this is the worst kind of exploitation one can think of. Even
the governments -- federal and provincials -- borrow funds at exorbitant
rate of nearly 14 percent from private banks. Nowhere in the world such a
wide spread of earning is available to banks -- adding insult to injury
they call it profit and loss sharing. One wonders what the regulator,
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), is doing.

displacement
Vulnerable to exploitationPakistan is now a country of
IDPs
By Rahimullah YusufzaiMakeshift bazaars selling relief and other goods outside the camps for
Afghan refugees dotting the landscape in the North-West Frontier Province
(NWFP), now renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Mianwali district
in Punjab has been a familiar sight for the people of Pakistan for almost
three decades.

society

Creating alternatives

The youth of today cannot be exonerated of all
responsibility for the direction in which society is heading

By Aasim Sajjad Akhtar

In the relative scheme of things 20 years is not a long
time. This is exactly how long it has been since the Cold War ended, and
with it, the so-called age of ideology. The rapidly growing population of
young people that has grown up over these two decades has very little
understanding of what the Cold War represented, beyond caricatures of
communism and the fact that its precepts are inconsistent with 'human
nature'.

The only renegade ideology that garners air-time these
days is that associated with the nebulous concept of jihad. Of course, in
reality, capitalist ideology is thrust down our throats on a daily basis
-- in discrete and sometimes not-so-discrete ways -- but most of us have
internalised the individualistic logic of capital to such an extent that
we are unable to discern that we are hopeless consumers of this ideology
(alongside the commodities that make capitalist markets tick).

It is difficult to say where we are headed. Societies
such as ours will never converge completely with the so-called advanced
societies of Western Europe and North America. What we can be sure of in
about 10-15 years is an enormous population of young people who will be
competing ruthlessly amongst one another to secure a 'good life'. A
reasonable number will go abroad, by hook or crook; others will secure
jobs with multinationals and, thereby, more or less simulate a life
abroad; some will strike it big in business; and the vast majority will be
fighting for the scraps. A critical mass of this last group will invoke
various parochial ideologies and possibly rebel completely against the
mainstream. It will not be pretty.

A wide cross-section of political analysts and
observers have asserted in recent times that Pakistani society has made
great strides insofar as some semblance of consensus has been forged
vis-a-vis 'terrorism'. The latest attack on Abdullah Shah Ghazi's shrine
in Karachi has been condemned by pretty much all political players (with a
handful of notable exceptions). Presumably, this is how we gauge the
extent of the 'consensus'.

I think, in fact, that we are criminalising any and
everyone who does not subscribe to the dominant discourse on 'terrorism'.
And by criminalising indiscriminately we are effectively condemning anyone
who questions the existing order to outcast status. In short, we are
refusing to acknowledge that those who do commit acts of 'terrorism' are
not renegades but in fact representatives of real constituencies that
cannot be wished away.

When one-third of the world was officially communist,
the Pakistani state decried Pakistani communists as conspirators and
enemies of the people. Yet communists still retained a legitimacy that was
impossible to deny. For all of the attempts to marginalise them,
individuals such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ajmal Khattak, and Fatehyab Ali Khan
(who recently passed away) were social and political giants whose
influence extended much beyond the communist circles with which they were
primarily associated.

It is a shame that today's youth have little awareness
of who Fatehyab Ali Khan was, what kind of society he wanted to build, and
the innumerable difficulties that he endured throughout his life because
of his political beliefs. The man lived most of his adult life in Karachi
yet a large number of students in today's Karachi know nothing of him
(unlike students of a bygone era who knew and admired him and others of
his ilk, and even aspired to be like them).

To the extent that the youth of today have heroes, the
trend is in the direction of regionalism. For example, it would be
difficult to identify a non-Baloch hero amongst Baloch youth; it is Akbar
Bugti, his grandson Brahamdagh and Balach Marri that inspire the Baloch
teenager. Those who identify with an international humanism, let alone a
vision of a multi-national Pakistan, are lucky not to be branded enemies
of the Baloch nation.

It is not as if young people themselves are to blame.
Following the end of the Cold War history could be re-written along the
lines of End of History and then subsequently Clash of Civilisations
narratives. In Pakistan, Ziaul Haq had foisted a contorted official Islam
onto society even before the collapse of the Soviet bloc. And now in the
so-called age of information the notions of justice, democracy and freedom
have been given a complete (neo-con) makeover.

Yet there should be no doubt that the youth of today
cannot be exonerated of all responsibility for the direction in which
society is heading. Regardless of where the rot starts, young people
contribute to either continuity or change, directly or indirectly. It is
not as if most young people are ignorant; it would be more accurate to say
they are cynical, and have generally imbibed the idea that there is no
point thinking or doing beyond oneself.

As I have already hinted at above, not everyone will
get a piece of the pie. Those who don't, and who feel habitually wronged,
will react in desperate ways. Some might suggest that many young people
will simply remain indifferent -- I think that is an option only for those
who do not live in and amongst real people and are not affected by the
real problems that exist in this society (across all kinds of social
divides).

As always, only those of us who are concerned with
potentially bleak futures can be expected to try and push for brighter
ones. The state will continue to play destructive games that intensify
polarisation while forever propagating the myths of the indivisible nation
and the proverbial national interest. Unfortunately, as I have noted in
recent times, progressive circles are themselves so conflicted that it is
difficult to envision the forging of new heroes for our young people. At
the very least, we should be able to recover our past and make sure that
those who will guide this society's development in years to come are given
just a little flavour of what it was like to live in the heady times when
revolution was in the air.

Bumpy
road to rehabilitation

The major challenge in rehabilitation process would be
resource mobilisation

By Naseer Memon

Floods have now receded, leaving a trail of devastation
behind. Deep scars of this disaster would take years to heal. Although
relief phase is yet to end but concomitant to that more arduous phases of
early recovery and rehabilitation can't afford any delay. The camp life
ordeal of affectees would soon get over yet their suffering would only
change its form as they return to their uprooted abodes.

Early recovery typically requires rapid assessment that
may help initiating a transition from life saving to life sustaining
activities in the affected areas. This phase entails issues like
resettlement, livelihood restoration, rebuilding of basic infrastructure
and planning for effective rehabilitation phase. The major challenge in
this phase would be the magnitude of physical disaster. The scale of
mammoth challenge can be gauged from the damage data. According to NDMA's
update of 23rd December, over 1.9 houses are damaged in the country. Sindh
province appears to be the worst hit accounting for over 1.1 million
damaged houses.

Estimates of infrastructure such as roads, bridges,
government offices, culverts do not appear in this report. However,
various other reports provide information on these aspects. A report of
UNESCO puts the number of damaged schools to 10,000 that corresponds to
1.5 to 2.5 million students affected. Punjab government's initial
estimates reckon the damages to the tune of Rs67 billion. Website of PDMA
Sindh shows staggering damage estimate of Rs446 billion.

Sector-wise breakup shows housing and agriculture as
the worst-hit sectors in Sindh with estimates of Rs134 and 122 billion
respectively. Secretary Industries Department of Sindh has confirmed that
67 industrial units in Sindh have been damaged. Similarly the Sindh
Agriculture Department estimates agriculture losses at 102 billion rupees.
A report of the UNOCHA on 10th August mentioned that 281 bridges and 283
roads were affected in KPK. Balochistan fretfully decried underestimation
of its damages. In the long and short, volume of damages is mind-boggling
and that explains the lurking ramifications of the bumpy road to
rehabilitation. Putting together federal cabinet was informed that the
colossal losses are estimated to US$ 43 billion, nearly 25% of the nominal
GDP of Pakistan.

Early recovery in the affected areas would demand
greater focus on agriculture and its extended strands of livelihood. Since
most of the affected areas, specially in Punjab and Sindh, have their
economy embedded in agriculture, immediate attention is required to secure
winter sowing, mainly wheat that guarantees staple diet for millions of
households. Any laxity in this would precariously push the rural economy
and livelihood to the brink of collapse that may eventually culminate into
a perilous social chaos. To avert this risk, government will have to work
on a war-footing mainly for dewatering of submerged swathes, repairing
field channels and regulators and mobilising seed, fertilizer and other
inputs.

Paucity of supplies would skyrocket prices, initially
of inputs and subsequently of commodities. Efficient management of winter
crop would partially assuage the miseries for affectees as the local
economy would get a shot in the arm with good harvest. This would bring
respite for the edgy government and rehabilitation phase would also become
less turbulent.

Rehabilitation phase is targeted to restore life to
pre-disaster stage. This stage has to focus both on individual affectees
and public services. Many experts of disaster management consider
rehabilitation as an opportunity of better rebuilding through ameliorated
planning, infusing socio-economic reforms, redefining imperatives of rural
economy and reconstructing infrastructure as disaster-resistant and
environmentally sustainable.

Rebuilding major infrastructure and reshaping
socio-economic vista require meticulous planning and a turbocharged
institutional array to make this transition wrinkle-free. The Independent
Evaluation Group of the World Bank has also indicated in its report that
Pakistan has a unique opportunity to introduce land and irrigation reforms
for long term political and economic gains. The report suggests that the
disaster also presents an opportunity to redress or to begin to redress,
the long-standing land rights issue related to powerful landlords and
indebted tenants in areas like Balochistan, Sindh and Southern Punjab.

Likewise, better land use planning can help rebuilding
environmentally sustainable human settlements. Stemming from shear lack of
land use planning, villages and towns in Pakistan have become breeding
grounds for social strains and environmental nightmares. Unbridled sprawl
of villages and towns have completely disregarded the fundamentals of
development. Over the years major infrastructure schemes were implemented
in the flood prone areas.

A vicious web of private dykes, illegal irrigation
channels and other imprudent creatures was recklessly allowed to sneak
into the flood plains. How this environmentally myopic development
multiplied the damages need to be delved. Rehabilitation phase is a
heaven-sent opportunity to rectify these gaffes. Land reforms, especially
judicious allocation of katchha land and recovering illegally occupied
tracts of riverine forest would be the best harvest of this worst
disaster.

The insurmountable challenge, however, would be
convincing the ruling elite to let it happen unhindered. Since the fragile
democratic dispensation stands on the crutches of unscrupulous landed
aristocracy, such reforms look like a distant dream. Otherwise erasing
social imbalances would provide bedrock foundation to democracy in
Pakistan.

The major challenge in rehabilitation would be resource
mobilisation. Ever bulging security cost has hemorrhaged the cash-strapped
government from its residual liquidity. According to newspaper reports the
federal budget has recently been defaced by major changes into defense and
development allocation. The former has been allocated additional Rs110
billion and the later has been drained by Rs73 billion, leaving
development kitty in pallor.

Council of Common Interest announced a compensation of
Rs100,000 for every affectee family but the provinces are too impoverished
to afford this. The Advisor for Planning and Development in Sindh has
already conceded that the slim purse of the province can't afford 190
billion rupees required for the purpose. The international aid response
had been sluggish due to medley of reasons. The UN has launched
"Pakistan Floods Emergency Response Plan" seeking US$ 2 billion.

The plan aims to provide humanitarian relief and early
recovery assistance to up to 14 million people through 483 projects. The
anemic treasury needs aid injection to foot the rehabilitation bill that
would run into several billion dollars. There is a need of massive public
sector investment to reinvigorate the caved-in economy in the affected
areas.

This investment, however, should not be restricted to
dole outs; it should rather follow the 'New Deal' paradigm of
socio-economic recovery of US after Great Depression in 1930s. President
Roosevelt declared it a peacetime emergency and established Federal
Emergency Relief Administration that pumped money in "work
relief" operations. Huge projects of roads, bridges, schools and
other public works were rolled out that generated jobs for 4 million
citizens.

Such a model would proffer multiple benefits of
rebuilding public services, rejuvenating the tormented local markets and
creating much needed employment for affectees. Creating exclusive small
and medium enterprise corridors in urban areas fueled through soft loans
would also help affectees to recuperate from crisis. In presence of heavy
debt servicing and ballooning defense expenditure, little is left for
public sector development, which complicates the dilemma of civilian
governments. Considering these harsh realities, rehabilitation phase
immediately requires an all encompassing master plan before rolling out
muddled development schemes. The plan may comprise short term, medium term
and long term targets coupled by a strategy to mobilize resources and
efficiently investing them to achieve strategic socio-economic gains.

The writer is an environmentalist Chief Executive of
Strengthening Participatory Organization-SPO. email: nmemon@spopk.org

firstperson

Lost in research

The quest for peace was a major imperative for me

By Dr Tariq Rahman

Dr Inayatullah has spent the best part of his life
doing research on subjects related to social sciences. During the course
of his decades-long academic incursions into research, Inayatullah had the
chance of working with the UN and other academic institutions around the
world. After successfully launching his own Council of Social Sciences in
1994, the researcher in Inayatullah is still eager to do more work and
explore new avenues in the field of research in social sciences.

Dr Inayatullah: I was born in a small village in
Hafizabad district. My grandfather was a numbardar but in those days this
did not mean that the family was rich or educated. Indeed, except for a
few Hindus, there were hardly any educated people in the village. In the
beginning, I was not particularly fond of education and a man had to bring
me to the school forcefully. However, after my primary education, I
developed a liking for books and even my grandfather valued the help I
would give him in the accounting work he trusted me with. As there was no
secondary school in the village I had to go to Hafizabad from where I
passed my matriculation in 1948.

TR: How did you find your college life?

DI: The most important consideration about the choice
of college for me was that it should charge no, or very modest tuition
fees. This brought me to Government College Faisalabad in 1949 and I
stayed there till 1951. Then I went to Lahore and here I was admitted in
Mayo College which was charging no fees. Of course, the famous Government
College, the dream of most students of my generation, was beyond my
wildest hopes. So, it was from Mayo that I got my BA. Then I went to the
Punjab University for MA in Economics but left after a year. This
disruption in my studies was the result of an emotional entanglement.
Actually, I wanted to marry my present wife and the families would not
initially agree. This brought me to such a crisis of nerves that, out of
depression, I had to take a year off my studies. However, I returned after
a year and completed my M.A in three years rather than the customary two
graduating in 1956.

TR: How was your first job experience?

DI: My first job was related to research. I was hired
as a research assistant in the Punjab University where the Asia Foundation
had begun a project on village development. My job was to collect data
from villages for writing reports. One of the advisors for the project was
from Berkeley and he was much impressed by one of my papers on the 1951
elections in my village. He advised me to send it to an international
journal in Germany which I did and it was published. Later, I got other
papers published too. Meanwhile, the Punjab University recommended me for
Ph. D. However, this did not mature. Meanwhile, rural academies, funded by
the Ford Foundation, were established in Comilla and Peshawar. I was hired
as a research associate in the Peshawar one. Here, I edited a number of
books on bureaucracy, development, district administration, etc. Then I
was sent for training to the Michigan State University. There I did course
work for the M.A degree in sociology but had to leave it without final
viva voce examination which, luckily for me, was conducted by my American
professors in Peshawar when I was back home in 1959-60.

TR: Tell something about your experience of doing Ph.
D?

DI: Dr Ralph Braibanti was an advisor of the Civil
Service Academy. He invited me to Duke University. I also got a fellowship
with the help of Professor Friedmann to work in East-West Center,
University of Hawaii. So, I had a choice between two fellowships. I
accepted the Hawaii one since it gave enough money to take my family to
America. However, I did not go to Hawaii. In those days, Fred Riggs was
famous for theory -- social science theory (Prismatic model). He was in
the Indiana University and I worked under him and got my Ph. D from
Indiana in 1968. But before actually obtaining my doctorate, I spent six
months at the United Nations. This happened when a United Nations
executive heard me at a seminar in Hawaii and invited me to join the UN. I
joined only for 6 months and then went back to Indiana from where I
completed my Ph. D. I then returned to the UN job in New York in 1968.
Life at the UN Headquarter in New York was by no means congenial for me.
It was a matter of traveling by subway, working in offices and being
cramped up in an apartment. However, life became better when they posted
me to the Social Development Institute in Geneva in 1969. Here I stayed
two and a half years working on development in Iran, Sri Lanka and
Pakistan and producing reports.

TR: So, how was the second tenure at the UN?

DI: It was most fruitful. Indeed, I regard it the high
point of my productive career. I was in UN, based in Kuala Lumpur from
1973 till 1983 when I took early retirement. During this period I studied
development in different countries. One of the studies I published was
titled, Land Reforms in Asia. It was a time of great personal growth but,
unfortunately, my son developed schizophrenia and would leave home for
long periods. We got alarmed and one reason I returned home was this. I
then came to Islamabad and since then I have lived here.

TR: Do you participate in the intellectual life of
Islamabad?

DI: There used to be a society for International
Development. Sartaj Aziz, who knew me, asked me to revive this society and
I managed to do so. Zia's martial law was lifted in 1985 and Asma Jahangir
and Dorab Patel began the HRCP. I also joined it and helped it develop in
Islamabad with Nasreen Azhar. This was most satisfying as I felt I was
contributing my bit towards the establishment of humanitarian values in
Pakistan.

The quest for peace was a major imperative for me.
Thus, when Dr. Mubashar Hasan launched Pakistan India Forum for Peace and
Democracy, I also joined it. At the same time, I started anti-nuclear
movement. Drs A.H. Nayyar and Pervez Hoodbhoy also joined and we spoke
against the possible destruction of South Asia. This was a very difficult
stance to take under the circumstances and we remain a very marginal group
even now. However, we remain committed to our stance of looking at nuclear
weapons as sources of insecurity rather than security.

TR: When did your work to provide forums for social
sciences begin?

DI: Dr Shafiq Hashmi, once a Dean of Social Sciences at
QAU, wanted me to join the University so as to find ways and means to
improve social sciences. He even gave me an office in the University
although I was employed there. Initially, we wanted to establish an
Institute of Social Science. In addition, we also planned a conference on
social sciences in 1988 and this actually took place. The papers read out
during it are now available in a book on social sciences in Pakistan.
Later, under the auspices of the Council of Social Sciences, an entirely
new book on the developments which had occurred in this decade or so was
also published.

This Council of Social Science, which I have mentioned,
was planned then but did not get off the ground. When Dr Hashmi left the
idea went into hibernation. Another idea of having a social science forum
was, however, implemented with the help of Tariq Banuri and Anis Dani in
1990. I am running it even now.

The Council of Social Sciences (COSS) also began in
1994. I ran it from my house for some time. We wanted it to be independent
and not a subordinate office of the UGC. Thus, after much altercation, we
broke away from the UGC and met outside. Later, we got a grant from UNESCO
which enabled us to hire an office and staff.

TR: What are your future plans?

DI: I want to be able to smoothly run the present
concerns and to develop those which have been planned. The gist of the
matter is that there is little funding even for COSS. The International
Islamic University has given two lacs, PILER has given one lac but that is
not enough. I am old now so I cannot run it forever. Personally, I want
younger people to take over.

There is also the idea of a new award for social
sciences in general. The bulletin will also continue to be published. The
website will also be updated. Monographs will be written. There is much to
be done and I have not started even talking of the Peace Foundation which
will do research on issues of war and peace.

Politically
prone

MQM does represent a unique composition and trends in
the political process of the country

By Dr. Syed Farooq Hasnat and Shehzadi Zamurrad Awan

Within a span of few years Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM),
under the leadership of its founder Altaf Hussain became a potent force in
the political dynamics of Pakistan. Although, it lacks the ability to form
a government on its own, either in the Sindh province or in the Center, a
sizable number of its members in both the legislative bodies makes it a
tricky "king maker".

During the elections of 1988 and again in 1990, the
party emerged as the third largest group in the National Assembly. In the
present National Assembly, it has a sizable number of 25 members, making
it the fourth largest party. In the recent elections in the far-flung area
of Gilgit-Baltistan, it was able to win a seat in its first ever elections
for the Legislative Assembly, and came close second on the other.

Recently, the party and Altaf Hussain came under
tremendous pressure, with lots of hints about infighting within the party,
pointing out the weakening of Altaf's hold on key personalities in the
party. To make matters worse, the brutal assassination of former convener
of the MQM, Dr. Imran Farooq, in London, remains as much a mystery as a
question mark for the Karachi-based political party. The deceased, along
with a handful of individuals was the founding member of the MQM in 1984
at that time named as Mohajir Qaumi Movement, and its first secretary
general. He was considered as a key player in the promotion of the new
political entrant on the national scene, though the new formed group had
limited agenda and scope.

Although he denied his differences with Altaf Hussain,
it is generally believed that Dr. Imran had love-hate relations with the
party leader, and things between them were less than, "as
usual". One may recall that in his 25-year long association with the
party, he was twice expelled and four times suspended.

Soon after his death different reasons of murder were
ascribed by the rumor mills of the country. One such rumour suggested that
Imran Farooq was deliberating on launching a new political faction to be
named as "Aman Pasand Group", along with those who disagreed
with policies and style of Altaf Hussain. The MQM leadership vehemently
denies these charges. Rather, it is believed in the party circles that the
murder is a message that "the Quaid-e-Tehrik (Altaf Hussain) and his
associates were not safe even in London".

Frustrated by accusations against his handling of the
party, Altaf turned the attention of sympathy wave towards himself, by
saying that: "Now the enemies of the movement are after my life, but
I want to tell them I am not afraid of anyone, whether it's a superpower
like the United States or it's NATO allies or their Pakistani agents … I
fear the Almighty Allah and will never bow down before the conspirators
even if they get my British citizenship rescinded." Many people saw
this statement as a kind of distraction from real issues and
contradictions arising within party ranks. The US and NATO link in this
matter seemed too far-fetched.

Whatever the truth about infighting within the MQM this
tragic murder came in the backdrop of vicious target killings in Karachi,
which have gone unabated, for months. Every killing in the city was
followed by accusations and counter accusations by a complex political
composition of Pakistan People's Party (PPP), the Awami National Party (ANP),
and the MQM.

All these three parties are not only coalition partners
in the Sindh provincial government but are also partners in the federal
government. The coalition governments have been marred by mutual distrust
and an increasing observable unease, sometimes volatile, when it comes to
the identification of those accused of murders and arson as well as the
dispersal of government jobs.

The leaders of triangular political forces of Karachi
-- PPP, ANP and the MQM -- on a number of occasions went an extra mile to
keep tensions in check, but the provincial leaders and workers of the
coalition partners are far from any conciliation mood. The third emerging
ethnic force in Karachi, the NAP was able to extract two provincial
assembly seats in Karachi, much to the dismay of the MQM, on the basis of
growing Pashtun population in the city. The Guardian, while reporting
Imran Farooq's murder, pointed towards the MQM's "longstanding
rivalries with ethnic Pashtun and Sindhi parties in Karachi," and
added that "the MQM has also been riven by occasional internecine
violence".

Dr. Imran Farooq's murder has raised many questions,
including safety of other MQM leaders, including that of Altaf Hussain.
The self-exile of several of MQM leadership was basically, as time and
again claimed, for their protection due to the threats that existed to
their lives in Pakistan. But as the recent event showed even the safe
haven of Britain was not as safe.

It is a matter of further concern for the party as the
murderers have been identified as Asians, meaning that roots of the murder
most probably originate from the situation in Karachi -- either embedded
in the past or influenced by the current vendetta-style killings in that
city. If later being the raison d'etre, it will have serious repercussions
for the already fragile coalition, both at the provincial as well as
federal level. Further, the peace of Karachi would certainly slide down
for the worse.

Reflecting his frustration with the ruling party, Altaf
Hussain on 16th September issued a startling statement in which he invited
the army to intervene and remove the "corrupt politicians",
meaning some of the leaders of the PPP. That statement was severely
condemned by nearly all the political circles in the country and in the
media as well. Later, Altaf Hussain, during the recent devastating floods,
accused the PPP Sindh leadership of breaching the overflowing canals to
save their lands, which, as a consequence, became responsible for the
destruction of mass scale property of poor farmers and damaged several
villages.

Many critics of the political scene judge MQM as an
ethnic-based, localised party, tightly controlled by its top leadership,
or, in fact, by the personal whims of Altaf Hussain and his few
companions. All said and done, MQM does represent a unique composition and
trends in the political process of the country. It is a party of educated
middle class and the leadership proudly claims that its members in the
legislatures are not blood relatives of the leadership of the party, as it
is a common practice with nearly all other political entities. Based on
this strength, the party has vowed to spread its membership on the
national level.

Recently, the province of Punjab has been the main
focus of their membership drive. This development can be visualised as a
healthy trend. A third potent force can be a welcome change for the voters
as well as for the well-being of the political process in Pakistan.

The task before us is to take forward Dr Khan's mission
of preaching tolerance

By T Ali

Dr Muhammad Farooq Khan's death has shocked the
country, a huge loss for Pakistani society in that he was a source of
guidance and a voice against militancy in the country. With his death, the
society has lost a passionate campaigner for tolerance and moderation.

As Dr Khan was a vocal critic of suicide attacks, Al
Qaeda and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, militants were naturally prime
suspects for his murder. The TTP claimed responsibility for his
assassination telling the BBC, "He was killed for criticising us on
every forum and for advocating modern Islam."

Militants, after having been flushed out of some
strongholds, seem to have changed their strategy and are now targeting
potential personalities who openly opposed and criticised their agenda.
The assassination of Dr Farooq seems to be the continuation of this
strategy.

Dr Khan and his associates would always say he had no
threat from militants. He would laugh and say: "I am a man of letters
and arguments. I can be silenced by argument." Afzal Khan Lala,
famous nationalist leader from Swat, says Dr Farooq Khan was a national
asset, "Balance, patience, tolerance, respect and love for all were
prominent traits of his personality. We Swatis in particular are indebted
to him for his untiring efforts in establishing the Swat University. He
was also giving psychological treatment to about 100 arrested suicide
bombers and young militants here," he says.

"To Taliban I say by killing noble sons of the
soil like Dr Farooq and men of character and knowledge, you are adding to
the brain-drain in our society; you are endangering the future of your own
children. Change in the system can be brought about by education and
peaceful struggle, not by killing people," Lala says.

Brigadier Mehmood Shah, security analyst and Dr Khan's
close friend, says besides being a good friend, Khan was a highly learned
person, "He had both the knowledge and the capability and courage to
express it. At a time when very few dared challenge the militants, he
defied them, exposed the weaknesses in their stance and interpreted Islam
rightly," he says.

"I hardly see anyone else in the country that has
the requisite knowledge of modern and Islamic sciences and the courage and
ability to convey his viewpoint like he did. While there are many who
believe in what he did, there is none who can categorically and
courageously say things he said," Shah adds.

According to professor Mumtazuddin, his close
associate, his personality can be summed up thus: he loved people,
knowledge, hard work and reading and writing. Dr Khan had a multifaceted
personality. He earned wide acclaim as a psychiatrist, writer, columnist,
moderate scholar and intellectual throughout the world. He frequently
delivered lectures both in and out of the country.

Khan authored 14 books in Urdu and English. Some of his
works include: Pakistan and the 21st Century, Islam and women, Islam and
the modern world, Islamic penal code, some discussions, and Muslim
community: the way to success. War and Jihad in Islam which has been
recently launched argues against private jihad and suicide attacks
comprehensively.

Spokesman of Swat University, Nadeem Shah, says the
students and entire staff of the university were shocked at his
assassination. "The fact the university is functioning well is
because of his untiring efforts for the last two years. He had to start
from scratch. For about one year he worked as project director without any
pay saying until the project succeeded, he won't claim remuneration, he
says, adding, "He had accepted the job despite opposition by his
family for he loved the cause of education. He was the happiest man when
in June this year the president of Pakistan sanctioned the university. He
was to address the join sitting of the students and academia on October 4
but he was martyred on October 2."

There seems to be a disagreement between federal and
provincial governments on whether the Swat University should be named as
such. One option is to name it as Dr Farooq Shaheed University, to which
all will agree considering the work he has done and the sacrifices he has
offered. The vice-chancellors committee of 14 public sector universities
in KP has also demanded for the same.

Though he had been associated with Jamat-e-Islami,
Tehreek-e-Insaf, and other political parties but he was apolitical these
days. He told this writer once that association with a particular party or
sect makes one biased, "You cannot be impartial in matters involving
your party or opponents. Justice is the ultimate sufferer. Intellectuals
should avoid this."

"Now the task before us is to take forward his
mission of presenting religion in its true perspective and creating
awareness through education and encouraging dialogue," says a
Peshawar-based educationist wishing anonymity.

The
question is…

Does a woman have a right to have rights?

By Fauzia Viqar

Take for instance women's right to inheritance and
property. The general perception regarding inheritance and property rights
is that a woman does not deserve these because she has either used up
those entitlements in the jahez and elaborate marriage celebrations for
her, or that she gets them through her husband so why give her more. The
law is clear on distribution of property and other inheritance in set
proportions to heirs. The daughters get half the share of what the sons
get and surviving wife/wives have fixed portions. In Pakistan, due to
customary practices of mothers being taken care of by sons, mothers do not
lay claim on inheritance from their husbands. Societal practices also make
it extremely difficult for women to survive independent of male support
and force a widow to depend on her son, thereby relinquishing her claim to
property and other spousal inheritance

A daughter's share is often denied to her for reasons
apart from expenditure on her dowry. In order to maintain their power over
land and related privileges, men have historically associated land with
family prestige and honour. Parting with land in the interest of daughters
of the same household will, therefore, be tantamount to losing family
honour. In feudal settings, many ingenious methods have been adopted to
counter the threat of losing land to "others". These include
marriages of women with pigeons, with trees and other inanimate objects.
Often, women are not married altogether or married to little cousins who
may be as young as 4 or 5 years old.

Alongside the virtually insurmountable family
challenges to women's inheritance rights, there are also hurdles posed by
the legal, administrative and social systems in Pakistan. These include
navigating through a court system that is complex, expensive and slow.
Additionally, lengthy court processes and corrupt court officers, not to
mention inefficient, unethical and mercenary lawyers discourage women from
getting into litigation for their rights.

More importantly, in rural areas where 70 percent of
Pakistan's population resides, land records are maintained through the
archaic patwari system which rests on old land registers and maps in paper
form, and their maintenance is the purview of the Patwari, a land record
officer at the sub divisional or Tehsil level. While records are also kept
at the levels of the district revenue office and the Safe-Houses, a
Patwari is the gatekeeper for most land cases. Also, in rural areas it is
often far less costly to resolve disputes at the patwari level than to
pursue litigation in courts, especially if the land under contest is
small. These patwaris are given to accepting bribes and are easily
influenced by the local powerful.

In urban areas of Pakistan, a large percentage of the
population (60 percent in Karachi) lives in shanty towns. Residents of
these areas have either bought their land from the land mafia or have been
squatters for decades, if not centuries on that land. These people are
frequently without land registration documents or may have a stamp paper
showing some form of ownership to their small house. The right to staying
on in katchi abadis frequently rests on one's luck, or one's ability to
secure the privilege of staying on. Women are seriously disadvantaged in
such situations due to dependence on men for securing their property
through force. When a woman has to defend her traditional ownership of her
home, she has to deal with additional factors compounding the existing
issues of legal, administrative and societal corruption.

This is where gender and patriarchal attitudes
associated with women claiming their rightful share come in. Most
Pakistani males subscribe to the view that inheritance and related
property rights for women are granted to women in consideration for
fulfilling their traditional roles within society, i.e. that of mother,
daughter and sister. Therefore , when a woman abandons her traditional
role for example as a wife through divorce or as a sister by demanding her
right, she loses her right of access to marital property through
maintenance and her right to her father's property. Such women are
ostracized by family and friends and when they approach law enforcers,
they are often harassed. Women are considered "dishonorable" if
they go to court.

Such misplaced notions have gained currency in our
society and result in stigmatising the woman who is wronged. Patriarchal
attitudes stemming from our culture and misinformed religious notions are
reflected in the attitudes of duty bearers/law enforcers. A recent
encounter with a policeman dealing with a case of a woman being thrown out
of her home brought out duty bearer's attitude toward women defending
their right to property. In this case, the woman was brought into the
police station because some people threw her and her children out of the
house claiming that her drug addicted husband had sold the house to them.
Incidentally, the house belonged to her and the deal (if any) was done
without any legal documentation or proof of ownership by the husband.

Sadly, women demanding their rights related to
inheritance and property and/or other rights are shunned not only by males
in their family and in society. In a majority of cases, other women are
complicit in denying women rights.

The question is if other women are also condemning
actions of victimised women, aren't these women themselves at fault? The
answer is complex. It is all about social conditioning. We become what we
are told we are. When certain roles are drilled in the mind of men and
women in a society they start subscribing to those roles. When women are
told that their rights are subject to limitations set arbitrarily and
unfairly by societal norms, they internalise it and not only accept it
themselves but condemn women who don't agree with the injustice. Hence the
question, Does a woman have a right to have rights?

The writer is a human rights worker

Thriving
on public money

It is possible to get back looted funds if the
government seeks information regarding accounts in Switzerland

By Huzaima Bukhari and Dr. Ikramul Haq

The fact that the unscrupulous, with the connivance of
powerful, are unabatedly plundering the money of small deposit-holders is
both shocking and painful. The deposit holders get negligible returns on
their savings, while the banks are earning mark-up between 12 to 18
percent from borrowers -- this is the worst kind of exploitation one can
think of. Even the governments -- federal and provincials -- borrow funds
at exorbitant rate of nearly 14 percent from private banks. Nowhere in the
world such a wide spread of earning is available to banks -- adding insult
to injury they call it profit and loss sharing. One wonders what the
regulator, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), is doing.

The influential overstate the costs of projects with
the connivance of approvers -- thus siphoning off more than their equity
in the very beginning. After earning profits, they engineer default and
get their units declared as sick. The banks settle loans by recovering a
negligible percentage of total outstands writing off the balance.

The losers are deposit-holders and shares holders --
both profitability and liquidity suffer. Strangely, the beneficiaries are
also not taxed for remissions of principals and interest. Federal Board of
Revenue (FBR) disallows provisions of write-offs in the hands of banks but
never bothers to tax the real beneficiaries of remissions.

During the last three years, certain industrialists got
relief of Rs6.8 billion in the form of loan write-offs from the
government-owned bank alone. This was revealed by the Minister of State
for Finance in May this year while answering a question posed by a member
of National Assembly to confirm the amount of written-offs by NBP during
the period between January 2007 to September 2009.

Shockingly, the FBR did not tax these remissions as
business benefit, causing loss of billions of rupees to the national
exchequer. Interestingly, the names of beneficiaries of loan write-offs
disclosed by Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar included influential business houses
owned by politicians or their close relatives. None of them has declared
insolvency after write-offs.

The State Bank of Pakistan, during a suo motu case
before the apex court has admitted that financial institutions wrote off
Rs256 billion loans from 1971 to 2009. During the self-acclaimed
transparent era of Musharraf-Shaukat, loan write-offs in just seven years
(2000-2006) crossed the figure of Rs125 billion, whereas in the much-publicised
corrupt eras of elected governments (1985-1999) it was just Rs30 billion.
This comparison speaks for itself and does not require any further
comments.

Though plundering and looting of money of deposit
holders of banks started soon after nationalisation, but during the
Musharraf-Shaukat era, an unholy alliance of bankers,
businessmen-cum-politicians and bureaucrats devised an amnesty scheme to
get the benefit of write-offs. Parliament became a party to it by
inserting an exemption clause in Income Tax Ordinance 2001 through Finance
Act 2004 providing non-taxation of benefits derived by them.

These crafty beneficiaries of loan write-offs shifted
funds worth billions of dollars outside Pakistan, especially to
Switzerland. It is possible to retrieve the looted funds if the
government, under Article 25(1) of the Avoidance of Double Taxation Treaty
with Switzerland, seeks information regarding Pakistanis maintaining
accounts in the Alpine State as has been done by many countries in recent
months.

Table A depicts the cumulative position of the
non-performing loans and advances of banks and non-banking financial
institutions from 1982 to 2009, which has been compiled from their
published Annual Accounts. This shows not only the quantum of
non-performing loans, but lack of political will to recover billions of
rupees of deposit-holders when the creditors are in possession of
securities and through introduction of a simple foreclosure law, assets of
debtors can easily be liquidated to recover the dues.

Way back in 1996, taking suo motu notice under Article
189 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the apex court vowed to make
authoritative pronouncement that "would eliminate the chances of
misusing the laws for siphoning of public money" There is, however,
no track what happened to that public interest litigation case -- it
appears from the recent proceedings that the case is still pending even
after a lapse of 14 years. The said public interest litigation originated
from a reference filed by then President, late Ghulam Ishaq Khan against
Rao Rasheed Ahmad (a PPP MNA), who, as a member of loan write-off
committee, blatantly ordered to write off a loan of his wife. There have
been many such examples where the rich and mighty, using political
influence, managed to plunder the savings of the have-nots (small
depositors) in a shameless manner. Unfortunately, the process continues
unabated till today.

In 2000, the then Chief Executive, Pervez Musharraf,
promulgated two ordinances to initiate the process of sale of 868 sick
units through the Corporate Industrial Restructuring Corporation (CIRC) in
consultation with the five nationalised banks that had claims of Rs107
billion against them. The CIRC was to take over these assets from the
government owned banks and financial institutions at their book value and
in return the government was to issue bonds to these banks at the time of
privatisation of the unit or after three years of take-over, whichever was
earlier. The bonds having 5-year maturity period carried a profit fixed by
the federal government from time to time in accordance with State Bank
rates. The banks and financial institutions used the bonds as their
liquidity.

The CIRC was abolished in 2006 under the "sunset
clause" of its ordinance. Banks were then privatised and
beneficiaries of the process were buyers and not the public -- when banks
were government-owned loans were extended imprudently and after recoveries
through securitization benefits were passed onto private parties.

The new owners made billions as banks were sold at
discounted prices and money realised from so-called privatisation was not
used for external debt retirement but for the benefits of rulers. In the
entire process, the country lost billions of rupees. The nation also
suffered revenue losses of Rs120 billion as bad debts written off by the
banks under the SBP's amnesty scheme enjoyed tax exemption. In 1990, the
Auditor General of Pakistan issued a detailed audit report questioning the
authority of Board of Revenue to issue administrative instructions for
allowing bad debts. It is quite understandable how the Board of Revenue
and SBP, in the presence of this audit report issued further concessions
to the borrowers and banks.

It is an undeniable fact that landed aristocrats and
businessmen, state functionaries and corrupt bankers joined hands to
deprive this nation of billions of rupees. The responsible officials of
SBP and FBR should be summoned by the apex court to explain who had asked
them to issue "administrative instructions" in gross violation
of law for writing off loans giving tremendous tax benefits to
beneficiaries. This would reveal the modus operandi under which public
money was fraudulently pocketed. Public money should be recovered and
exemplary punishment be awarded to their treacherous facilitators and
abettors in this crime.

The writers, tax lawyers, are visiting professors at
the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)

displacement

Vulnerable to exploitation

Pakistan is now a country of IDPs

By Rahimullah Yusufzai

Makeshift bazaars selling relief and other goods
outside the camps for Afghan refugees dotting the landscape in the
North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), now renamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
Balochistan and Mianwali district in Punjab has been a familiar sight for
the people of Pakistan for almost three decades.

Now such bazaars have cropped up close to the relief
camps and food and non-food distribution centres for internally displaced
persons (IDPs) made homeless by natural and man-made calamities in
Pakistan. Militancy, military operations, earthquakes and floods have
uprooted millions of Pakistanis and forced them to live in camps not only
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, but also in Sindh, Punjab, Azad
Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(Fata). Dislocated from their homes and familiar surroundings of their
villages and towns, most of these IDPs are now dependent on donations and
support from the government and donors and are vulnerable to exploitation.

The makeshift bazaar outside the Jalozai Camp near
Pabbi in Nowshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been in existence for
years. Known as the Mohajir Bazaar (Refugees' Bazaar), it emerged when
Jalozai was a huge and sprawling camp for Afghan refugees and even catered
to the needs of Pakistani villagers living in the area. Due to reports
that Jalozai Camp was serving as a hideout for militants including the
Afghan Taliban, it was closed and Afghan refugees were repatriated to
Afghanistan or relocated to other camps. But the closure was temporary as
the camp was revived to accommodate the IDPs from Pakistan's Bajaur,
Mohmand and Khyber tribal agencies and subsequently from Swat and rest of
Malakand division.

At the Jalozai bazaar, men sold and bought surplus food
rations that the Afghan refugees and the Pakistani IDPs had received as
donation. Flour, vegetable ghee and high-energy biscuits were on sale and
so were blankets, water-proof plastic sheets and other non-food items.
Yaseen Khan, displaced from Bajaur's Mamond area, said they received food
items and nothing else and were, therefore, constrained to sell some of
the rations that his family could spare to make money for buying household
goods including clothes and shoes, particularly for the children. "We
need money as we have none. We sell whatever we can spare," he
remarked as he sat on the ground selling things that his family had
received as donation.

Both the sellers and buyers are mostly poor and needy.
The sellers cannot make much money from their small roadside business and
the buyers purchase things in the hope of selling these at some profit in
bigger towns and cities. One such buyer is Hazrat Bilal, barely 12-years
old who was seated at his small footpath stall near the General Bus Stand
on the Grand Trunk Road in Peshawar. From a buyer, he has now become a
seller. Several other people, mostly teenagers, have also set up makeshift
stalls because this is the right location for running such a business.
Nearby are the big stores and also the distribution centre where the IDPs
receive food and non-food items. Many of them want to sell there and then
instead of paying transportation costs to carry the things home. Buyers
swarm the place and they in turn sell whatever they can at roadside stalls
outside the busy General Bus Stand where thousands of passengers arrive
and depart round-the-clock.

Hazrat Bilal, a smart shopkeeper despite his young age,
sold tea leaves, cooking oil, biscuits and even chocolates. The names of
USAID, WFP and other donors were prominently written on the tins of
cooking oil and other donated goods. The donors had also printed the sign,
"Not for sale" on the tins and packets to stop the sale and
misuse of the food items. However, it made no difference as the donated
items were openly being sold. According to Hazrat Bilal, the only check on
them were the police, who demanded payment of Rs30 to 40 each from him and
other stall-holders not for selling donated goods but for occupying the
footpaths and the road pavements and hindering traffic. "If we don't
pay the cops, what will they eat?" remarked Hazrat Bilal with a
chuckle.

The small pack of chocolate on sale cost Rs20 and the
bigger one Rs30. Hazrat Bilal said he and his father bought the smaller
pack from the IDPs for Rs11 or 12 and made profit of eight to nine rupees
on each pack. It was strange to find out that the foreign donors had sent
chocolates instead of something useful for the IDPs, who thought they
couldn't afford the luxury and would be better-off selling it to make some
money and use it to buy items of essential use. Another interesting
observation was that Hazrat Bilal and most other sellers of relief goods
were Afghan refugees. They were buying these goods from Pakistani IDPs and
then selling to needy Pakistanis. Having been involved in the business of
selling and buying relief goods for years, the Afghan refugees are able to
do a better job in earning their livelihood in this manner.

This kind of business is bound to flourish now that
Pakistan is receiving donated food and non-food items for its flood-hit
citizens. The sellers and buyers are again mostly poor and needy people
barely able to make both ends meet. Big traders, government officials and
those running non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and involved in
distribution of relief goods have much greater chances of making money.
More money-making opportunities become available in the rehabilitation and
reconstruction phase. Pakistan, it seems, would remain involved for years
now in rebuilding its destroyed infrastructure of roads, bridges, canals,
schools and health outlets and enabling its citizens to reconstruct their
houses.

Pakistan has suffered from both natural and man-made
disasters in recent years and there seems to be no end to its woes. In
fact, a new tragedy occurs before the country is able to get respite from
the previous one. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Pakistanis,
resilient and strong believers in fate, are now being referred to by some
commentators as the bravest nation in the world.

Compared to other countries, Pakistan's share of
troubles has been on the high side in its 63 years history after winning
freedom from British colonial rule in 1947. Most occurred due to flawed
political policies pursued by authoritarian regimes. Pakistan's ongoing
travails were triggered by the Saur Revolution in neighbouring Afghanistan
in April 1978 and the subsequent Soviet military intervention in December
1979 to sustain the unpopular Afghan communist regime in power. The
fallout of the Afghan conflict affected every aspect of life in Pakistan
as it was the headquarters of the US-backed Afghan mujahideen fighting the
occupying Soviet Red Army.

The country started suffering from the so-called
'Kalashnikov and heroin culture' as guns and drugs from war-ravaged and
lawless Afghanistan were smuggled to Pakistan to meet the demands of the
local market and also for onward delivery to other countries. Up to five
million Afghan refugees also crossed over to Pakistan to not only put a
burden on the country's inadequate resources but also become a factor in
its politics, economy and culture. Around 1.8 million of those refugees
are still living in Pakistan and could be found in all four provinces and
even Azad Kashmir.

Migration made life miserable for the Afghan refugees
and also created problems for the host country. Though the Afghan refugees
under a tripartite agreement between the Afghan and Pakistan governments
and the UNHCR are required to be repatriated by the new deadline of 2013,
one is not sure if this could happen due to the escalating conflict in
Afghanistan and on account of the fact that many Afghans are now
categorised as 'economic refugees' unwilling to return to their homeland.
The prolonged stay of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan is also a story of
exploitation and vested interest profiting from human misery.

The fallout of the Afghan conflict on Pakistan became
bigger and costlier since the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent US invasion
of Afghanistan in October 2001. Pakistan's society was further radicalised
and the military operations by the country's security forces against local
and foreign militants hiding in Fata and the adjoining settled districts
caused unprecedented displacement of people. The militants, linked with
the Taliban and al-Qaeda, retaliated with terrorist attacks including
suicide bombings in Pakistan's cities. The long and porous Durand Line
border between Afghanistan and Pakistan enabled the militants, both Afghan
and Pakistani Taliban and those from likeminded groups, to easily
infiltrate the two countries and come to the aid of each other while
launching attacks and defending their sanctuaries.

As the Afghan conflict is unlikely to end any time soon
and the situation in Pakistan cannot become stable as long as Afghanistan
remains destabilised, the miseries of the Afghan refugees and the
internally displaced persons (IDPs) in both countries would continue for
the foreseeable future. The former Soviet Union and the United States of
America, two superpowers with imperialist designs, are primarily
responsible for the death and destruction in Afghanistan and Pakistan
brought upon common people who had no say in the decision-making that led
to the conflict in the region.

As if the abovementioned man-made disasters weren't
enough, Pakistan was hit in recent years by periodic natural tragedies.
The earthquake of October 2005 in Pakistani Kashmir and Hazara region of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa killed up to 80,000 people and caused widespread
destruction and displacement. Five years later, the country has yet to
fully rehabilitate the earthquake affected communities and rebuild their
destroyed houses or revive the communication, health and education
infrastructure due to lack of resources and mismanagement. Only 49 percent
work on rebuilding the infrastructure in Hazara has been completed.

This task would be delayed further as Pakistan is now
confronted with the even bigger challenge of rehabilitating the affectees
of the floods that struck on July 29, 2010 in northwestern parts of the
country and was causing displacement and suffering in the southern Sindh
province even two months later. Affecting 20 million people, including 12
million needing urgent humanitarian assistance, the floods have caused so
much damage that Pakistan would need foreign assistance for years to stay
afloat. Flood-hit communities would now be at the mercy of the government
functionaries and donors and, as so often happens in such situations,
their misery would be exploited by unscrupulous elements.

Within a period of less than 15 months, the people of
Pakistan have suffered two record displacements. Until the 2010 floods,
the largest displacement in Pakistan's history was the one in the early
summer of 2009 when military operations and militancy in Swat and rest of
Malakand division in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caused unprecedented exodus of
people. By the first week of May 2009, the influx of IDPs was so quick and
big that it was described by the UN officials as the fastest major
displacement in the world.

The authorities in Pakistan failed to anticipate the
level of displacement and were, therefore, caught unawares. Not much
preparation was made to cater to the needs of even half a million IDPs
projected to abandon their homes as a result of the military action in
Buner, Lower Dir and Swat. There would have been an unmanageable
humanitarian crisis had the people of Mardan and Swabi districts, and also
of Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera, not opened their doors and hearts to
the IDPs and shared whatever they had with their uprooted Pakhtun kith and
kin. The government was neither prepared nor equipped to take care of such
a large number of displaced people. The situation also didn't get out of
control as the IDPs were able to return home within a reasonable period of
time due to the timely completion of the military operations in the
targetted area. Having been made to sacrifice so much, the discontentment
among the IDPs could have reached alarming levels had they remained stuck
in the camps or in somebody else's home for a long time.

There was controversy at the time about the exact
number of IDPs. Doubts were expressed about the figures provided by the
provincial government through its information minister Mian Iftikhar
Hussain as it was felt the numbers were being jacked up to claim more
federal government funds and the attention of international donors. Major
General Nadim Ahmad, head of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
who was entrusted with the task to coordinate and spearhead the relief and
rehabilitation work for the IDPs, pinpointed a few anomalies by claiming
that the number of displaced persons in Dargai and Palai camps in Malakand
Agency was certainly not 100,000 as claimed. He felt duplication took
place while registering IDPs at certain places and that old-time Swat and
Malakand residents living in Peshawar, Mardan and other districts had got
themselves registered as recently displaced persons. This was obviously
done to claim the relief goods being provided to the IDPs and it certainly
amounted to taking away the rightful share of the deserving people.

If one were to believe the ANP-PPP coalition government
in Peshawar, the number of IDPs following the military action had crossed
3 million. But unlike the 1980s and 1990s when the West and its allies
elsewhere in the world mounted a big and sustained relief campaign for the
Afghan refugees in a bid to strengthen the Afghan mujahideen fighting the
Soviet forces in Afghanistan, there was little hope of getting the needed
assistance for the Pakistani IDPs.

This was evident from the initially poor response to
the UN Appeal for emergency international assistance for the IDPs. The UN
appealed for $ 543 million to cover the cost of looking after the needs of
1.5 million IDPs for the six-month period ending December 2009. Until the
end of May, it had received $ 88 million only constituting 16 per cent of
the appeal. Though the response to the appeal for donations improved
subsequently, the needs too kept rising with the displacement of more
people and extension of the zone of conflict to new fronts in tribal areas
such as South Waziristan, Orakzai and Kurram.

There was certainly a donor fatigue and it was also not
the first time that Pakistan was standing in the queue seeking
international assistance. Besides, the IDPs' issue wasn't a natural
calamity but was a man-made disaster as an unprecedented number of people
were driven from their homes due to excessive bombing by jet-fighters and
gunship helicopters and indiscriminate shelling by long-range artillery
guns.

Very few opinion-makers questioned the military tactics
that were employed to defeat an insurgency fuelled by religious slogans
and local grievances, including the unresponsive system of justice and
governance. Not many were asking the question whether this was the proper
way to tackle a shadowy enemy that operated as a guerilla force, was
committed and battle-hardened and was familiar with the terrain. Perhaps
there could have been better ways to win the hearts and minds of the
people while pursuing counter-insurgency operations.

The military's inability to kill or capture top Taliban
leaders and commanders and the provincial government's decision to
announce head-money for the Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah and his
20 comrades also raised questions about the lack of good intelligence
needed for mounting effective counter-insurgency campaigns. Indeed the
media blackout imposed by the armed forces enabled it to portray only one
side of the story and put a lid on reports of civilian casualties,
extra-judicial killings and human misery. This policy also created doubts
about the claims of battleground achievements made by the military and
fuelled rumours.

The IDPs, who were overwhelmingly farmers, were found
lamenting the loss of their wheat crop that needed harvesting, the ripened
peaches, plums, apricots and other fruits that couldn't be picked, and the
precious buffaloes, cows, goats and poultry that were left behind. In
fact, many IDPs risked their lives and travelled back to their villages in
Swat, Buner and Lower Dir to harvest their wheat crop, tend to their
orchards and tobacco crop, and bring out some of their cattlehead.

While the government was finding it difficult to cope
with the situation arising from the displacement of so many people, not
much attention was paid to the thousands of people trapped in the war zone
without having access to food, water, electricity, medicines and other
necessities of life. The army slowly began sending food supplies to the
blockaded villages and to towns such as Mingora, but the affected people
complained that the demand was higher than the goods that were supplied.
Ten-fold increase in prices of essential commodities was reported from the
war zone, where medical supplies ran out and doctors fled for their lives.

The government tried to unburden itself of the IDPs
from Bajaur and Mohmand tribal regions who had come earlier and were still
staying in the old camps such as Jalozai and Katcha Garhi. However, not
many agreed to return due to the uncertain situation in Bajaur Agency,
where the militants after suffering losses in the previous military
operation had again become active, and Mohmand Agency, which continued to
experience Taliban-inspired violence and retaliatory action by the
security forces. The number of IDPs before the launch of the military
operations against the militants in Swat and Malakand region was almost
600,000. Most were angry that the new IDPs from Swat and Malakand got a
far better deal than them.

There were almost 1.6 million IDPs in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa and Fata before the floodwaters ravaged not only these two
administrative units but also rest of the country. Pakistan is now a
country of IDPs in need of regular assistance for years to come.